Berry-licious Blueberry Muffins
I love blueberry muffins, but I absolutely hate the packaged blueberry muffin mix which turns the batter a bluish-purple after you add canned (and tiny) blueberries.
Blueberries are my favorite when it comes to fruit muffins, but you can easily make this into a loaded berry muffin by mixing you favorite berries — a combination of raspberries, cranberries, and of course, blueberries are delicious too.
I use frozen berries for this recipe. While fresh berries are delicious, frozen sweet berries are always available and “in season.”
I also top these muffins with a sweet mixture of lemon zest and sugar. The perfumy, aromatic oils in the lemon zest gives these muffins a hint of lemon flavor that compliments the berries so well.
This recipe makes a little more than a dozen muffins. You’ll have just a bit of batter leftover after filing the muffin tin. Make mini loaves or use a second muffin tin to use up the extra batter.
Berry-licious Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients for the Muffins:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons dry Buttermilk Powder (you can find this in the baking section of your grocery store)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white, granulated sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups frozen blueberries
Ingredients for the Topping:
- 1 cup frozen blueberries plus 1 teaspoon white, granulated sugar
- The zest of one large lemon plus 1/2 cup white, granulated sugar
Directions:
Make the toppings:
1. Make a blueberry sauce by placing 1 cup of frozen blueberries with 1 teaspoon sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring the berries to a simmer. As the berries begin to soften, use the back of a cooking spoon to slightly mash the berries. Cook the mixture for about 5-8 minutes, or until the sauce reduces and thickens. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix the lemon zest and 1/2 cup sugar together. Set aside.
When you zest the lemon, make sure to get only the yellow lemon rind, not the white pith. After zesting the lemon, chop the zest into smaller pieces then mix with the sugar.
Mix the batter:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with baking spray or non-stick (butter flavored) cooking spray. Or, line each cup with a muffin liner.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, buttermilk powder).
3. In another mixing bowl, place the eggs and sugar. Using a hand mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until creamy. Mix in the butter, oil, water and vanilla extract.
4. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, mixing only until the batter is moistened (a few lumps are okay). Do not overmix.
5. Fold in the blueberries.
6. Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full. These muffins really rise high, so don’t overfill each muffin cup.
7. Place a heaping teaspoonful of the blueberry sauce on top of the batter in each muffin cup.
8. Using the handle of a spoon (a chopstick works really well here), swirl the blueberry sauce into the batter.
9. Evenly sprinkle the lemon-sugar mixture over each muffin.
10. Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean (a few crumbs sticking to the toothpick is okay). Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
If you have a mini loaf pan, you can make mini loaves with the extra muffin batter. You should have enough batter left (after filling the muffin tin) to make 3 mini loaves. I doubled this recipe so I made 6 mini loaves with the extra batter (after filling 2 muffin tins).
Serve and ENJOY!
